where do you live? there are state and local laws the govern the breaking of that contract. There are limits on how much the landlord can demand--most commonly, the landlord must make a good-faith effort to re-rent the apt., and CAN continue to charge you the rent UNTIL it is re-rented but NOT after (no collecting money from two tenants for the same moonth).

And sometimes there are tenant-advice resources where they can help you through the steps to document her failure to provide for "quiet enjoyment"--usu. you have to notify the landlord in writing, maybe even by registered mail, or what the problem is, giving dates and persistence, etc. And then you may have to notify them of your decision that the landlord is in violation of the lease and you consider the contract void.

Try to get more situation-specific advice from some agency in your area.

its gonna get ugly! No landlord will let you break a lease without a lawyer. how much time is left for your lease? Tally sue is right, the landlord has to honestly try to rerent your place before charging you back rent and prove it in court. look up your states laws on lease breaking and if need be, get a lawyer your landlord sounds like a real jerk anyways. no landlord cares, so you have to look out for you

donslilz

We have broken our lease twice with out a lawyer so the statement "No landlord will let you break a lease without a lawyer" is false . Once we broke it because we had to move unexpectantly. (hubby's mom was dying of cancer and given 6 months to live so we moved back home to be closer to her)
And the second time was that we found out we were having twins and there were no apartments big enough for us in that complex, only 2 bedroom units. So it can be done. We talked to our landlord and explained why we had to and it was fine both times. We did not have to pay for any rent while they were looking to re-rent it. And saying no landlord cares is a crock. There are some good ones and some bad ones out there. The one we have now is wonderful! She goes above and beyond for her tenants and she looks after over 150 units!

schoor: thank you for that! As an owner/landlord, such a blanket statement slamming landlord stings. (If I were to come here and make a negative blanket statement about "all tenants" I'm sured I'd be tarred and feathered ;)

I've let several tenants out of their leases without a lawyer and without charging any further rent. One finally realized his dream of being hired by a police force, but he had to live in their jurisdiction (next county over). During his 4 year tenancy with me I watched him juggle college and jobs in criminal justice till he reached his goal. No way could I spoil it for him. Another was due to serious illness of a family member located out of state. Another was a young couple suddenly expecting an unplanned baby (their 3rd) and the house would simply have been too small for them. So they searched for a home to buy while they continued to rent from me. Three months before the lease was up they found a nice large one with plenty of room for the kids to romp. I let them out of the lease with no repercussions (and they invited me over the weekend they moved into their new home, they wanted to show it off ;)

But a lease is a contract, and the promise to pay rent is there through the end of that contract. And yes, the landlord has the right to pursue collection of those rents during the course of that contract. If you're not residing there, he/she has the legal right to the rent you owe until he/she is able to re-rent. And re-renting doesn't happen in a snap. There's cleaning, painting, advertising, showings, prospective tenants might still have a month to go on a current lease, etc. etc.

You do, however, have the right the live in peace. I didn't read your prior post, so I don't know how bad it is.

I would suggest you try one more time with the landlord (no threats, no demands or yelling, that will just put her on the defensive). Read your lease language, know it and if necessary, remind her in a calm, civil manner that you have the right to quiet enjoyment and in truth you're miserable. She may be working over time to resolve it. And if she is indeed going for eviction, that process doesn't happen overnight, and as you mentioned, you really don't know what's going on behind the scenes with those upstairs and she's not privvy to discuss it.

I put language in my leases that tenants will not interfere with quiet enjoyment of neighbors. At one rental I began getting complaints from a neighbor about noise and loud parties about my tenants (house, not apt.). The neighbor just hounded me incessantly (and he was usually drunk, which didn't help his case in my book). I told him I would talk to my tenants, and I did. But I also told the neighbor it's going to take more than his verbal complaining to me for me to pursue it beyond that. I told him if my tenants were truly that out of hand, call the police. Then I've got documentation to substantiate any more agressive action on my part. But you know what? Neighbors never called police. Not once. I spoke to the disptacher on several occasions, after every time the neighbor called me complaining. There was no documentation of a police visit to my tenants ever, for anything. A landlord can't simply boot someone out because of a disgruntled squeeky wheel next door, it's just not that simple.

One last and very important consideration: you're already planning on future court appearances and are covering your bases now. If you do indeed land in court, there's the chance you will come out on the losing end, and if so you would be facing a judgement against you for the monies owed, and judgements show up on credit reports. You could well be harming your own future, because any type judgement on a credit report with regard to a property is a landlord's biggest red flag, makes potential landlords very, leery and most landlords will steer clear of a tenant who's landed in court over a rental. They figure it's got high potential to be possible grief for them as well. Something to think about...

I agree with moonshadow's post & I'd like to know what the OP's lease states, especially the "quiet enjoyment" & "early termination" clauses.

Keep a diary and all documents, including the letter the LL sent to the neighbors. If it comes to court, you might prevail with all the evidence you have. Personally, I'd not offer an extra nickle in rent for terminating the lease and would take my chances before a judge (if the LL pursues you for $). It's not /your/ fault the neighbors are noisy and you can't stand to live there. I know well the feeling.

Its not your fault the neighbors are noisy, but its no one but your own fault for signing a lease. Unfortunatly its a part of renting and unfortunatly you don't know how loud the current neighbors are or who is going to be moving in.

Of course the landlords attorneys and lawyer would not recomend to break a lease. In most situations its not in the LL best interest to break a lease of a good tenant.

Well as of yesterday July 19, on my birthday no less we got into with the neighbors up stairs. He was working out and again throwing the dumb bells on the floor making a very loud bang. So we called the landloard this time and I spoke with her and from my surprise she was (somewhat) nice but from what I heard about her I was told she was very nasty person. So I explain to her that noise is still continuing even after she sent them a letter. Well in a few words she told us we can break our lease. We are so happy, Happy Birthday to me. I went as far as to tell her to move them to my apartment because the people are deaf underneath, she said that isnt going to happen, she's not not going to renew their lease and she wants dosent want people like that in her building.
We have never dealt with the landlord or met her personaly we dealt with the a broker. We made sure to asks who was going to live upstairs from us and were told an old couple- NOT A TEENAGER WHO SLEEPS IN THE LIVING ROOM AND GETS TO DO WHAT EVER HE WANTS IN A SMALL 1 BEDROOM. This is not something we bragain for. So we have to start this whole process again as to finding a new place. I would like to thank everyone for their comments. I really appreciate all your help.
It was getting to the point where I was so depress and just wanted to cry. No one should live like this. I am so happy that we are able to leave.
Please if anyone has suggestions on what we should be looking for in our next apartment, comments are more than welcome. To all have a nice day.